Vegas By The Lake

Casino plan gets mixed reactions

May 11, 2004|By Kathryn Masterson and Ariel Alexovich, RedEye.

Around the Chicago Board of Trade, where playing the numbers is a daily fact of life for people trading in futures and options, the reaction to a possible casino being built in Chicago was mixed on Monday.

Traders Mark Wolicki and Tim Miller, taking a smoke break outside the Chicago Board Options Exchange, said they'd welcome a new casino within the city limits. Wolicki, who lives in the Gold Coast, and Miller, who lives in Lincoln Park, say they "play to win" in Las Vegas and Indiana casinos at least a couple of times a year.

"I'm tired of going to Gary," said Wolicki, 36, who returned from his most recent Vegas trip two weeks ago.

The former Meigs Field would be a perfect location for the new casino, said Miller, 28, who speculated Mayor Daley may have had a casino in mind when he shut down Meigs last year. (A source close to the mayor told the Tribune the location isn't one being considered.)

Trader Bill Kucinski, 26, said Daley was right on in supporting a casino as a way to bring money into the city.

"This is one of the best moves he's made toward bettering the economy," said Kucinski, who lives in the West Loop. "The revenue would help the city the most, make Chicago a flourishing city with more tourism."

Others were less enthusiastic about Daley's plan.

"If he can do something more constructive than build a casino, he should," said trader Michael Gentry, 33, who lives on the South Side.

The region already has enough casinos, Gentry said, though he understands Daley's position that if people from Chicago are going to gamble, they might as well spend their money in the city. Gentry is not a gambler, but his grandmother and other family members are, and he said they'd be happier if they could gamble here instead of Indiana.

Ashley Staples, a 20-year-old legal assistant from Park Forest, was skeptical of Daley's proposal. "They don't want to give us a Wal-Mart, but they'll give us a casino?" Staples said. "I don't care what they build as long as the profits go to schools. When they say the money will go to state and city funds, I don't mean it goes to your brother, your sister, your employee, your girlfriend who needs an Explorer."

Ayman Assaf, a 34-year-old accountant from Palos Heights, said no amount of revenue is worth bringing a casino into the city. Assaf has known several people who have destroyed their lives because of an addiction to gambling, and he believes a new casino downtown could do the same thing for Chicago gamblers.

"If you have to go to Las Vegas every time you get the urge to gamble, that's really harder than driving for just 15 minutes," Assaf said.